Hammock



(No Model) A. FORTENBAUGH.

HAMMOGK. No. 417,161. Patented Dec. 10, 18891 WITNESSES [yawn 2022 N. PEYERS i 'holnLithngraphfl. Withinglon, 11G

UNITED STATES PATENT UEEIQE.

ALBERT FORTENBAUGH, OF BALTIMORE, hlARYlh XND.

HAMMOCK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 417,161, dated December 10, 1889.

7 Application filed August 9,1889. Serial No. 320,298- (No model.) 7

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ALBERT FORTEN'BAUGH, of Baltimore, in the State of Maryland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Hammocks; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon which form part. of this specification.

My invention relates to certain improvements in hammocks, and more particularly to an improved portable and knockdown hammock-support.

The objectof the invention is to provide a light, cheap, and simple, and yet strong and durable hammock-support, especially adapted to carry hammocks of small size, to serve as cradlesfor the use of infants, and which shall be portable and can be easily and quickly taken to pieces and packed into small compass for transportation, and which shall be exceedingly cheap in first cost and easy to manufacture, so that the cost of the article will be no hinderance to its adoption. These objects are accomplished by and the invention consists in certain novel features of construction and in combinations of parts, more fully described hereinafter, and particularly pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective View of the support and a hammock carried thereby. Fig. 2 is a detail perspective of the main or supporting union or supporting-socket by which the legs of the standard and the supporting-arms for the hammock are united. Fig. 3 is a detail view of one of the legs.

111 the drawings, the refereneedetter u indicates a suitable hammock of any desirable make, and the support for the same consists of a standard located centrally beneath the hammock, and consisting of three or more (four in the present and preferably) support ing-legs 7), converging outwardly from a common center, so as to form a firm and rigid base, and a pair of supporting-arms c c, extending upwardly and outwardly from said center in opposite directions and in the same vertical plane, and provided in their upper ends with hooks (Z (Z or other means, to which the ropes of the hammock can be secured and by which it is supported, said hammock extending between the arms and over the central standard. The legs and arms are joined and removably secured together by a metal union e, preferably, although not necessarily, cast integral, and consisting of a central body from which the four sockets f radiate downwardly and form equal angles with each other, and-from the upper side of which the ,tWo sockets g g extend upwardly and outwardly in opposite directions and in the same plane. These sockets are tube or pipe sections open at their outer ends, but, as before stated, are preferably formed integral with the body, and said sockets can also be formed to taper outwardly, if found desirable. The legs are preferably formed of wood and are removably and yet snugly fitted in the sockets f f, and the l1ammock-supporting arms are also removably fitted in the sockets g. Thus the whole support can in an instant be taken apart and packed or put together, and, as it is exceedingly light, it can be easily carried around by the mother.

The device is particularly intended to serve as a cradle for infants, and thereby relieve the mother from the necessity of holding the child when out of doors in the summer and when a baby-carriage would be too hot, it c.

A cord can be stretched between and secured to the upper ends of the hammock-supporting arms above the hammock to support a netting or the like and protect the infant from insects. The sockets and ends of the arms and legs can be tapered, if desirable, to fit more snugly.

The extreme cheapness and ease with which the device can be manufactured is obvious, as there is but the single casting that is, if the union is made or cast integraland the wooden legs and arms.

It is evident that various slight changes might be made in the form and construction of the parts described without departing from the spirit and scope of my invent-ion; hence I do not wish to limit myself to the construction herein set forth.

IOC

\V hat I claim is 1. A hammock support consisting of a standard located beneath the hammock and composed of a series of inclined legs extending downwardly from a common center, and a pair of hammock supporting arms extending upwardly and outwardly in opposite directions from said center, substantially as described.

2. A hammock support consisting of a standard composed of downWardly-extending legs, a metallic union having sockets in which said legs are fitted, a pair of sockets extending upwardly and outwardly from said union in opposite directions, and the hammock-supporting arms fitted in said sockets, substantially as described.

The combination, with the radiating supporting-legs and the hammock-supporting arms, of a union for said legs and arms consistin g of a single metallic body having'downward ly-extendin g radiating sockets extending therefrom, and a pair of upwardly and outwardly extending sockets projecting therefrom in opposite directions, substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

ALBERT FORlENBAUGl-I.

\Vitnesses:

O. E. DUFFY, C. M. \VERLE. 

